


Next to Me

by Harryissuchalittleshit



Series: Valdez Family [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Teen Angst, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, nothing graphic, the annual Valdez Christmas Eve party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:59:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harryissuchalittleshit/pseuds/Harryissuchalittleshit
Summary: Michael Grace, doesn't understand what happened to make Diana Valdez break up with him.Diana Valdez hopes that Michael Grace never figures out why she broke up with him.They both hope that the other will forgive them."When the skies are grey and all the doors are closingAnd the rising pressure makes it hard to breatheWhen all I need's a hand to stop the tears from fallingI will find him, I’ll find him next to me"- Next to Me by Emeli Sande





	Next to Me

**~Diana~**

 

It had never once occurred to me that his age was a taboo. He was already smarter, funnier, and all around cooler than me. Why would his age matter too? It was only a year.

 

And it didn’t matter, because while he could have anyone in the world, he loved me and he wanted to be with me.

 

And I was his to have.

 

He’s the youngest son, while I’m the youngest daughter, the forgotten ones.

 

You would think that would be his sister Lucy or mine, Esperanza. But Lucy died tragically, and ever since Esperanza left to join the hunters of Artemis, she’s been even more in the spotlight. Both of them are gone, but their reminders are all around, at all times. Our parents can’t get over what they lost.

 

Then there’s Stephan and Zoe, the oldest and smartest of us all. This didn’t stop Stephan from wanting to leave his family. It also didn’t stop Zoe from wanting to put a blade to her wrists and end her life.

 

And even Nico is put before me, the youngest, the most talented, the amazing Nico. The only boy in my family, the only boy with three older and vastly different sisters. And while he’s amazing and I love him, along with my older sisters very much, it’s nice that I have Michael. I have someone that pays attention to me; that cares about what I’m doing, and what I wanted to do with my life. He has the same with me.

 

And I’m just Diana, I’m not as smart as Zoe, or as brave as Esperanza, or as talented as Nico, I’m not even as beautiful as my madre, or as funny as my padre.

 

But Michael changes all of that, as he always has. I feel smart, brave, talented, beautiful, funny, and so much more with him. He makes me feel as if I matter.

 

And I love him; I love him so much even though I broke his heart, and said those unforgettable words. As the grandson of Aphrodite, I may have just ripped his heart to shreds.

 

“I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

 

**~April - Diana~**

 

Spring break was almost over, which also meant that the ten free days at camp were also almost over. Ten days of no parents, no responsibilities, and no running around the city, for any reason whatsoever. Spring break also meant no worries, what -with the school year almost over and summer vacation just around the corner- was there to really worry about?

 

Michael, Michael Tristan Grace. He always made me worry, even though this would be the anniversary of when we officially started dating. (Mama and Piper say that we’ve been attached to one another since Michael’s birth).

 

Michael always held on to the strong belief that demigods found their soul mates young, as they most often died off before they reached adulthood. Aphrodite always tried to give them one good thing before they left this world and went to their next life. Michael, a true grandson of Aphrodite, held on to this doctrine stronger than I’ve ever seen anyone else, including his own mother.

 

But we made a horrible mistake on April third. One decision that was scary, and crazy, and life changing in more than one way.

 

“Michael, can we have sex?”

 

**~May – Michael~**

 

Having sex with Diana was a disaster, one that I wish I could go back in time and change. We snuck out behind cabin twelve and seeing as this was both of our first times, we had no idea what to do. I never really thought about the actual act, I just went with what I thought was romantic.

 

Yeah, right, what a joke; I made a fool of myself and now I feel awkward around her all the time, something that hasn’t happened in years. I felt more comfortable around her the first time we kissed (which she surprised me by doing) three years ago, marking our first anniversary.

 

But the thing was, as much of an embarrassment our first time was; it was still really nice and romantic. I still love her and want to be with her, we just now know that we aren’t comfortable going that far in our relationship right now. And I’m not going to pressure her into having sex with me again, not until were both ready.

 

But she’s acting weird.

 

“Diana, are you okay?”

 

**~June – Diana~**

 

I knew this wouldn’t be the first morning that I woke up sick this summer; it also wouldn’t be the last. Zoe was the one who found me, she was up much too early, so I know that she never went to sleep last night, or more likely, she slept in cabin six last night with Charles.

 

“You need to go see Sebastian or Alice from Apollo, Diana,” she ordered me; she had walked into the bathroom just as I had started emptying last night’s dinner from my stomach. “I’m not going to let this go on for the summer, I can’t afford for you to be sick.”  


Despite her ordering and anger, she was holding my hair back and twisting it into one of mama’s braided knots.

 

“I don’t need one of them, I know what’s wrong,” I told her between the bouts of nauseas.

 

“Then tell me,” she said, now that my hair was up, she was rubbing soothing circles into my lower back, papa’s signature comfort trick.

 

I couldn’t get the words out fast enough, I had been dying to tell someone and right now, Zoe was truly the best option.

 

“There’s a baby.”

 

She threw up this time.

 

**~July – Michael~**

 

“I don’t want to be your girlfriend anymore, Michael,” she said, I froze. Diana had been pulling away ever since April, ever since we…. But this was ridiculous and I felt sick to my stomach.

 

“Diana, what’s wrong, this isn’t like you,” I said, I reached out for her, but she pulled even more into herself. Also she would’ve never had done _this_ , in front of the whole camp.

 

“I’m fine; it’s just that I think we need some time apart from one another. We spend all of our time together and I think we both need some space.”

 

She couldn’t even look at me as she said this.

 

“I don’t believe you,” I told her, feeling an aching in my heart. “This is just…this isn’t you Diana.”

 

“I’m sorry Michael, but we’re done. I’ll see you around.”

 

She walked away and I burst into tears.

 

**~August – Diana~**

 

“Diana! Get out of bed!” Zoe yelled at me, I stayed where I was too numb to do anything. “Diana, mama and papa are going to worry, you have to stop acting like this. You broke up with him; you’re the one who made the decision to do that. So stop crying and make the best of it.”

 

“The best of it?” I screamed at her, “just make the best of it! I love Michael; I love him so much that I’m going through all of this by myself. I never wanted to ever be apart from him, but look at me now; alone, scared, and pregnant, with no idea as to what to do next.”

 

“This was your decision Diana, you can choose to make it right again, you can tell Michael what’s going on,” Zoe said, by now she had sat down on my bunk, smoothing down my unruly hair and rubbing my stomach.

 

The baby kicked, and I burst into tears.

 

“I can’t tell him, I just can’t tell him.”

 

**~September – Michael~**

 

Back in New York from camp, I see her every day, but we haven’t spoken since she broke up with me. Stephan came home just to talk to me, but had to leave early because my niece Lily got sick. Mom and dad tell me to let Diana go, but I can’t stop thinking about her.

 

I miss her, I miss us.

 

**~October – Diana~**

 

It was getting more obvious that mama knew something was up. She never said anything but her glances and ‘innocent’ questions were becoming more obvious. I wished that she would’ve just said it, or more so, just asked it.

 

Zoe was doing all that she could do to disregard everyone’s questions, everywhere. School was the worst, with everyone asking questions about Michael and I, and it started to feel like everyone was taking sides. More were siding with Michael than me, but that’s what I wanted. More attention on Michael was better for me, as everyone would look the other way when it came to me.

 

And that’s what I wanted, it was starting to get hard to hide the bump.

 

**~November – Michael~**

 

“Can I just stay home, mom?” I asked her, we were supposed to go over to the Jackson’s, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing Diana.

 

“No, Michael, you can come and spend time with your family,” said dad, putting his coat on, I sighed.

 

“Jason, he can stay,” she was addressing this more to me than dad, “he doesn’t want to see Diana and I don’t blame him. I can promise you that the last person I wanted to see for a while was you when we broke up.”

 

“Piper, you promised that-“

 

“It’s not like we don’t know dad, why do you think that Stephan still overreacts about Lucy’s death,” I told him, moving over towards the stairs, “she was the only person he had for quite a while.”

 

“Go to bed Michael Tristan!” mom said, pulling dad out the door. “I’ll bring you back a plate, be good, and do your homework!”

 

“Okay, see you later,” I mumbled to myself as I fell face forward into my bed.

 

Diana’s Christmas party dress and prom dress were just visible in my closet, I nudged it closed with my toe.

 

**~December – Diana~**

 

“Just get through the next few days, and then we can sneak off and you can have the baby,” said Zoe; she was braiding my hair into one of mama’s signature knots. “Good thing that you barely show, mama and papa haven’t even said a word about it.”

 

“Mama knows, she won’t say anything, but I know that she knows,” I told her, she frowned and I smiled at her, “at least Anza’s coming home; she’ll be able to help.”

 

“Yeah, good thing she is,” said Zoe as the doorbell went off downstairs.

 

“Knock knock.” The two of us turned our heads to see Nico standing in the doorway; it was hard to believe he was already fourteen.

 

It felt like just yesterday that he was going on his first quest; he had been ten at the time, and the only surviving member.

 

“Come here and let me fix your tie,” I told him, why our parents insisted we dress up for this party was ridiculous, it wasn’t like we didn’t know anyone coming.

 

“You like the flames?” he asked, stooping down to my level, I adjust the knot and smoothed down the front.

 

“Yeah, it’s nice.” The doorbell went off again.

 

Today was our annual Christmas party, on December twenty-third our parents invited all of their old camp friends, the Jacksons, Graces, Zhangs, Stolls, Rodriguezs, Solaces, and many more individuals and families. There was really only one person I was worried about seeing, Michael. He had been able to get out of going to Thanksgiving dinner at the Jacksons’, but he wouldn’t be able to get out of this.

 

“Okay, you’re done,” said Zoe, releasing my hair, “make sure not to touch your hair, I’m not retying that bow.”

 

“Did you make a hair bow?” I asked, she nodded and then gestured for all of us to leave the room.

 

“I’ll be down in a few minutes; I need to finish getting dressed.”

 

Downstairs was a blur of energy, noise, and craziness, with papa in the middle of it. That was no surprise though, papa loved parties because of the craziness that always ensued.

 

“There’s Malcolm and Olivia, I’ll see you later,” said Nico, he bent down to kiss my cheek and then disappeared into the crowd.

 

I really had no one to talk to, as either no one would want to talk to me because of Michael or because I had distance myself from everyone.

 

It was going to be a long horrible night.

 

**~Three Hours Later~**

 

It was pushing on ten at night and yet no one was feeling the need to leave, even those with small children. I had spent most of the night sitting on the stairs and telling people where the bathroom was, while snacking on whatever food Zoe would bring over to me.

 

Then the worst happened, I had to go to the bathroom, and I knew that the upstairs one was crowded as I just told four people where it was. I went for the downstairs one, which was on the other side of the living room.

 

Huge mistake, just as I was almost at the door, I felt as if something had popped between my legs, then a rush of water came out.

 

“Zoe!” I yelled, “Zoe!”

 

Zoe wasn’t the only one to come over, mama, papa, Nico, even Charles and Bianca Jackson came over.

 

“Diana, are you okay?” Papa, I suddenly felt bad for never telling them.

 

“Charles, go into Diana’s room and grab the bag sitting by door,” ordered Zoe, “Bianca, get my car. Nico, we need to get out of here now, make a path.”

 

Zoe grabbed me and pulled me up to my feet and then pushed me towards Nico, who was pushing his way through the crowd. Charles met us at the stairs and handed Zoe my hospital bag. Bianca was coming up the walk, she handed Zoe her keys and helped me get into my jacket.

 

“Michael Tristan Grace, get your ass over here!” yelled Bianca, then she pushed me, Zoe, and Nico out the door.

 

“Diana, what’s going on?” asked Nico, both he and Zoe were holding onto me as we carefully made our way to the car.

 

“You’re going to be an uncle, Nico,” answered Zoe; Nico nodded and closed my door for me as Michael ran out the front door, followed by both of our parents.

 

“A baby, Diana! You broke up with me because you’re pregnant!” Michael shouted; Nico opened up the other back door.

 

“Get your ass in here Grace or we’re leaving without you!”

 

**~Two Hours Later – Michael~**

 

“How did you not know about this?” Leo asked me, he had refused to talk to me when they got to the hospital about ten minutes after us, leaving the Jacksons and Zhangs to clean up the party –or really just kick everyone out. Now though, he was holding me up against the wall with more strength than I imagined he had, and really he had probably just been waiting for mom to leave.

 

“Put him down Leo!” yelled mom, he dropped me automatically, zombie-like. “He said that he never knew and you should believe that!”

 

“My youngest daughter is about to give birth Piper! You think I’m going to act in a calm manner?” he yelled, staring me down.

 

“This is my and Jason’s grandchild too, Leo,” said mom, she reached out and touched his arm, calming him, not as quickly as Calypso’s touch, but at least he wasn’t trying to kill me. “And we’re angry about this whole situation also, you don’t see me trying to kill your daughter. I think they’ve both been through enough. Now where are the adoption papers that you had earlier, Michael?”

 

I went over to where I was sitting, and picked up the small, neat stack of papers Nico had given me in the car ride over. I was about to hand them to mom, when something at the top caught my eye.

 

“She already named the baby,” I told her, clutching the papers to me now. “Chloe Calypso Grace, she wants her to have my name.”

 

“Michael, you’re too young, you can’t raise a baby at fifteen. Having a child is so much responsibility, and don’t forget that you and Diana have school and you’ll need to get a job and there won’t be any more camp if you keep her,” she said, pulling me into her arms, I always felt small in her embraces, even though I was at least a foot taller than her now.

 

“Just sign the papers, and let us sign them too,” said dad, I nodded and took the pen that he was holding out for me. Diana had even gone through and marked all the spots where I was supposed to sign.

 

Then I sat and waited, I was so frustrated that I couldn’t do anything.

 

“Michael,” I looked up, Zoe was sticking her head out the door. “Come in and meet her.”

 

**~January – Diana~**

 

“Michael,” I called out for him, my hands were shaking and I got the weird panicky feeling that I got whenever I was asked to speak in front of a group of people, no matter how well I knew them. “Michael, the package is here.”

 

He appeared at my side and rested one of his hands on my lower back. “Open it, let’s see what she looks like, a month old and all.”

 

I smiled up at him, and then very carefully cut open the envelope. When the New Rome Adoption Agency took baby Chloe, I wrote them a letter explaining her whole past, from the very beginning with my grandparents, parents, and then Michael and I. The family that took her in was supposed to wait until she was five to read the letter and then let her have it when she was eleven. Those instructions along with her name were the only two favors that I asked from the adoption agency.

 

“She’s gorgeous,” whispered Michael, I nodded.

 

Chloe had inherited papa’s skin tone, making her light tan. She had Jason’s sky blue eyes, though when she was born, I could see more of Michael’s green in them. She had Michael’s dark hair, but my curls. To me, I thought that she looked like mama when she was born, but now, only a few weeks later, I could see that she looked like Piper more than anyone.

 

“She looks like Piper,” I told him, he rolled his eyes.

 

“How can you say that? She has your nose, and lips, and chin, she does have mom’s high cheekbones, but I think she looks like you,” he said, then leaned down and kissed me. After not being able to kiss him for so long, I cherished every one of his kisses now.

 

“I love you, Michael,” I told him, pulling him back to me for another kiss.

 

“I love you too, Diana.”

 

**~April – One Year Later – Michael~**

 

I wrapped my arm around Diana’s shoulders, we were visiting Stephan and Rosa for spring break. This meant that my niece and two nephews were taking advantage of us by having us take them to the park while my brother and sister-in-law were busy with classes. I didn’t mind, but it was tiring carrying around a diaper bag and three kids under the age of five.

 

“Tia Diana!” yelled my niece Lily, all three of the kids were more attached to her than me. Something that I didn’t quite understand, but it probably had to do with her not being family, yet.

 

I took my arm back as Diana leaned forward to fix Lily’s hair, I looked up to see Anthony and baby Ricky playing in the sandbox with another little girl.

 

“Lily sweetie,” I said just before the little girl ran off, “who’s that other girl?”

 

“That’s Chloe Torres, her papa and daddy got her last year,” she said, then ran off back to her brothers.

 

“You don’t think…?” asked Diana, taking my hand.

 

“I don’t think we should worry about it, whether it’s her or not,” I said, squeezing her hand.

 

She nodded and leaned back into her seat, then lifted up my hand and stared at the ring. I smiled, the promise ring was something new, and I loved it the moment she gave it to me. It was a simple, thin, silver band with an inscription of ‘my love forever’.

 

I leaned over and kissed her cheek. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I looked up again to see a man pick up Chloe. I wanted to say something, but he came over to us with Chloe still in his arms.

 

“Hi, I’m Jacob, you must by Chloe’s birth parents,” he said, Diana sat up straighter and she gripped my hand tighter.

 

“I’m Michael Grace, and this is my girlfriend Diana Valdez,” I said reaching out my other hand to shake his.

 

“Well, let me just say that it’s amazing to run into the two of you, my husband Nathan and I were wondering if we would ever meet the two people that made us the happiest couple in the world,” he said smiling at us.

 

“Thank you, were happy that she went to a great family,” said Diana, she squeezed my hand even tighter.

 

“Would you like to hold her, it’s the very-“

 

“No thank you,” said Diana, and I smiled, “she was never really ours to begin with.”

 

“Thank you for sending the pictures, she’s really beautiful,” I told him, glancing at Diana, she was staring pass me at Lily, Tony, and Ricky.

 

Jacob nodded, said his goodbye, and then walked away. I pulled Diana close to me and kissed her forehead.

 

“Someday Michael we’ll have that,” she said, “a family of our own.”

 

I kissed her, hoping that she understood that we already had that, just in the two of us. I hope she understood that all I needed was her, next to me.


End file.
